He saved the Son of His handmaid, and His own Son: His own Son, in the Form of God; the Son of His
handmaid
in the form of a servant.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
'
202 This world a kind of hell, compared with Heaven.
P8ai,m which this world cannot be, until iniquity pass away : let not v'' that rejoicing make us secure, but let our heart be so made glad, as to fear the name of the Lord, lest it be made glad
on one side, be stricken on another. Expect not security in
if ever we wish for it here, it will be the birdlime ' al. ' of of the body ', not the safety of the man. J^et my heart be made
heart. '
journeying:
S(> ^tat moyfear Thy name.
/ will in my whole heart, and
unto Thee, O Lord my God, I will glorify Thy name for ever: for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell. Do not be angry, brethren,
if I do not explain what 1 hare said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to speak : nothing of myself. Hell? I have not yet seen, nor have you: and there will be perhaps another way for us, and not through hell. These things are uncertain. But because Scripture, which cannot be gainsaid, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell, we understand that there are as it were two hells, an upper one and a lower one : for how can there be a lower hell, unless because there is also an upper? The one would not be called lower, except by comparison with that upper part. It appears then, my brethren, that there is some heavenly abode of Angels : there is there a life of ineffable joys, there immortality and incorruption, there all things abiding according to the gift and grace of God. That part of the creation is above. If then that is above, but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood, where is corruptible- ness, where is nativity and mortality, departure and suc cession, changeableness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires, horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable ex
I suppose that all this part cannot be compared with that heaven of which I was just now speaking; if then this part cannot be compared with that, the one is above, the other below. And whither do we go after death, unless there is a depth deeper than this depth ? in which we are in the
17. Ver. 12, 13.
confess
istence ;
11t- 'a
thi>>hell. ' ^esn an(* m ln's m? rtal state ? For the body is dead, saith Eom. 8, the Apostle, because ofsin. Therefore even here are the
* Internum : used as oar word place of departed spirits,
"hell" in the Apostles' Creed, for the b infernum inferios hoc inferno.
In Hell, there is a ' nethermost hell. '
203
dead ; that thou mayest not wonder because it is called hell,
if it abounds with the dead. For he saith not, the body is about to die : but, the body is dead. Even now surely our
body hath life : and yet compared with that body which is to
be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man is found to be dead, although still having life. But again, from this hell,
that is from this part of hell, there is another lower, whither
the dead go : from whence God would rescue our souls, even sending thither His own Son. For it was on account of these two hells, my brethren, that the Son of God was sent,
on all sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by being
born, to that by dying. Therefore it is His voice in that Psalm, not according to any man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining, when he saith, For Thou wilt not leave my soul ps. i6, in hell. Therefore it is here also either His voice, Thou hast10' delivered my soul from the nethermost hell : or our voice by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself : for on this account He came even unto hell, that we might not remain in bell.
18. I will mention another opinion also. For perhaps even
in hell itself there is some lower part where are thrust the ungodly who have sinned most'. For whether in hell there 'So St. were not some places where Abraham was, we cannot define fTMjob* sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord come to hell that He 1. xii. might rescue from thence the souls of all the saints who had^' gone before*, and yet Abraham was there in repose. And*st.
a certain rich man when he was in torments in hell, when Grej*? JJ
seen him by lifting up his eyes, unless the one was above, the Lukti6 other below. And what did Abraham answer unto him, 22. when he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he mayib 24-- d/ip the tip of his finger and drop it upon my tongue, for 26'
am tormented in this ? My son, he said, remember flame
that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented. And besides this, he said, between us and you there is a great gulffixed, so that neither can we go to you, nor can any one come from thence to us. Therefore between these two hells, perhaps, in one of
which the souls of the just have gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly are tormented, one waiting and praying
Ver. 12' 13'
on Joh, he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes. He could not have I. xiii. ? .
204 ' Deliverance from Heir may be from going there.
Psalm here, placed here in the body of Christ, and praying in the 'voice of Christ, said that God had delivered his soul from the nethermost hell, because He delivered him from such sins as might have been the means of drawing him down to
1 quia
the torments of the nethermost hell. As if a physician were to see an illness threatening thee perhaps from some labo rious work, and were to say, Spare thyself, treat thyself thus, rest, use this food ; for if thou doest it not thou wilt be sick ;
and thou, if thou doest so and art made well, sayest rightly to the physician, Thou hast set me free from sickness : not sickness in which thou wast, but in which thou wast likely to be. Some one having a troublesome cause was to be sent
to prison : another comes and defends him ; what does he say when he thanks him ? Thou hast delivered ray soul out of prison. A debtor was to be hanged upc: his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being hanged up. They were not in all these evils : but because they were in such due course towards them that unless aid had been brought, they would have been in them, they rightly say that they are
meritis
ageban- delivered from thence, whither they were not suffered by
their deliverers to be taken. Therefore, brethren, whether it be this or that, consider me to be herein an inquirer into the word of God, not a rash assertor. And thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.
19. Ver. 14. O God, the transgressors of the law have arisen up against me. Whom calleth he transgressors of of the law ? Not the Pagans, who have not received the law : for no one transgresseth that which he hath not received ;
Rom. 4, the Apostle saith clearly, For where there is no law, there is no prevarication. Transgressors of the law he calls ' pre
If we take this word from our Lord Himself, the transgressors of the law were the Jews. The transgressors of the law rose up against Me: they did not keep the law, and accused Christ as if He transgressed the law. The transgressors of the law
varicators. ' Whom then do we understand, brethren ?
rose up against Me. And we know what the Lord suffered.
c Suspendendus. The word is used dix, when Ingentius, the forger, was to of the preparation for torture, as in the be threatened with torture, " Procon- gesta Proconsularia in i lie case of Felix sul dixit, Suspendatur. ''
of Aptungis, Opp. S. Aug. t. ix. Appen-
Bad Christians the ' Transgressors? who trouble the Church. 205
Thinkest thou His Body suffers no such thing now? How Ver. can this be ? If they called the Master of the house Beel- zebub, how much more those of his household? The disciple 24. 26. ' is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. The
body also suffereth transgressors of the law, and they rise up against the Body of Christ. Who are the transgressors of
the law ? Do the Jews perchance dare to rise up against Christ ? No : for it is not they that cause us much trouble.
For they have not yet believed : they have not yet owned
their salvation. Against the Body of Christ bad Christians rise
up, from whom the Body of Christ daily suffereth trouble.
All schisms, all heresies, all within who live wickedly and engraft their own character on those who live well, and draw
them over to their own side, and with evil communications corrupt good manners ; these persons transgressing the law 1 Cor. rose up against Me. Let every pious soul speak, let every 16' 33' Christian soul speak. That one which suffers not this, let
it not speak. But if it is a Christian soul, it knows that it
suffers evils : if it owns in itself its own sufferings, let it own
herein its own voice; but if it is without suffering, let if'Oxf. also be without the voice; but that it may not be without. it'must suffering, let it walk along the narrow way, and begin to nve^j"'7 ' godly in Christ: it roust of necessity suffer this persecution. 14.
For all, saith the Apostle, who will live godly in Christ, suffer persecution. .
2 Tim. 3, 12-
O God, the transgressors of the law have risen up against
Me, and the synagogue of the pouerful have sought after
My soul. The synagogue of the powerful is the congrega
tion of the proud. The synagogue of the powerful rose
up against the Head, that our Lord Jesus Christ,
crying and saying with one mouth, Crucify Him, crucify
Him: of whom said, The sons of men, their teeth John19, are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. pB- 67, They did not strike, but cried by crying they struck, by *' crying they crucified Him. The will of those who cried
was fulfilled, when the Lord was crucified: And the syna
gogue the powerful sought after my soul. And they did
not place Thee before their eyes. How did they not place
Him before them They did not know Him God. They should have spared him as Man what they saw, according
:
?
it is
of
:
is,
206 They that refuse Christ as Man are not to see Him as God.
Psilm to this they should have walked. Suppose that He was not IJ"vI- God, He was man : was He therefore to be slain ? Spare
Him a man, and own Him God.
20. Ver. 15. And Thou, Lord God, art One Who hast
compassion and merciful, longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true. Wherefore longsuffering and very pitiful, and One Who hast compassion ? Because hanging on the Cross He
Luke23,said : Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. M' Whom prayeth He to ? for whom doth He pray ? Who prayeth? Where prayeth He? The Son prays to the Father,
crucified for the ungodly, in the midst of very insults, not of words but of death inflicted, hanging on the Cross ; as if for this He had His hands stretched out, that thus He might pray
Ps. for them, that His ' prayer might be directed like incense in the sight of the Father, and the lifting up of His hands like an evening sacrifice. Longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true.
21. Ver. 16. If therefore Thou art true, Look upon me, and have mercy upon me: give power unto Thy servant. Because Thou art true, give power unto Thy servant. Let the time of patience pass away, the time of judgment come. How,
John 6, give power unto Thy servant ? The Father judgeth no man,
~2'
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He rising again will come even to earth Himself to judge : He will appear terrible Who appeared despicable. He will shew His power, Who shewed His patience; on the Cross was patience; in the judgment will be power. For He will appear as Man
Acts l, judging, but in glory : because ' as ye saw Him go,' said the
Angels, ' so He will come. ' His very form shall come to
judgment; therefore the ungodly also shall see Him: for
Matt. 6,they shall not see the form of God. For blessed are the
Mat. 26,Pure hi heart, for they shall see God. Appearing in the
41 ?
Is. 26, Lxx!
Phil. 2, 6'
form of Man, He will say, Go into everlasting fire; that it may be fulfilled which Isaiah said, Let the ungodly man be token ciray, that he may not see the glory of the Lord. Let him be taken away, that he may not see the form of God. The form of Man then they shall see. Who when He was in the form of God, equal with God: this the ungodly shall not
John l, see. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God: this the ungodly shall
,'
Vision of the Godhead of the Son, is of the Father also. 207
not see. For if the Word is God, and, blessed are the pure Ver. in heart, for they shall see God; but the ungodly are impure ------ in heart: beyond doubt they shall not see God. And wherefore is Tliey shall look on Him Whom they pierced, zech. except because appears that they will see the form of*? 'h^ Man, that they may be judged, the form of God none will 37. see, but those who shall be separated to the right hand? For
when they are separated on the right hand, this shall be
said unto them: Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which prepared for you, from the beginning the
world. But what to the ungodly on the left Go into everlasting fire, which My Father hath prepared for the
devil and his angels. But when the judgment ended, how
did He finish? So the wicked shall go into everlasting Mat. 26, burning; but the righteous into life eternal. Then from^g? 4l' the sight of the form of Man those shall go on to the sight of
the form of God. For this, He saith, eternal life, that Johni7, they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ3'
Whom Thou hast sent: thou understandest, Himself also
the only true God because the Father and the Son are One
True God so that the sense, that they may know Thee,
and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent, One True God. For
they shall not go on to the sight of the Father without therein seeing the Sou also. If the Son also were not in the
vision of His Father, the Son Himself would not say unto
His disciples, that the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son. The disciples say to Him Shew us the JohnM, Father, and sufficeth us. He saith unto them, Have been
so long time with you, and yet have ye not known Me, Philip? he who hath seen Me hath seen the Father. You see that in the vision of the Father there also the vision of the Son and in the vision of the Son there also the vision of the Father. Therefore He adds consequence, and says
Know ye not that am in the Father, and the Father in Me? JohnU, that is, both in Me seen the Father seen, and in the Father 10- seen the Son too seen. The vision of the Father and the
Son cannot be separated where nature and substance not separated, there vision cannot be separated. For that ye may know that the heart ought to be made ready for that place, to see the Divinity of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in
:
is
a
is I ;
of
:
it is I
is
it, it
is is
is
9
:
is
?
is
:
: is
'
208 How our Lord speaks as ' raised up,' ' receiving power] fyc.
Psalm Which though not seen we believe, and by believing cleanse the heart that there may be able to be sight : the Lord
JohnH, Himself saith in another place, He that hath My commands and keepeth them, he it is that loveth MeI: and he that loveth
will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him. Did they not see Him, w ith whom He was talking ? They both saw Him, and did not
see Him ? they saw something, they believed something : they saw Man, they believed in God. But in the Judgment they shall see the same Lord Jesns Christ as Man, together with the wicked: after the Judgment, they shall see God, apart from the wicked. Give power unto Thy servant.
22. And save the Snn of Thine handmaid. The Lord is the Son of the handmaid. Of what handmaid? Her who when He was announced as about to be born of her, answered
Luke 1, and said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me
John 9,
Me shall be loved by My Father : and
38 Phil. 2, 6-
according to Thy word.
He saved the Son of His handmaid, and His own Son: His own Son, in the Form of God; the Son of His handmaid in the form of a servant. Of the hand maid of God, therefore, the Lord was born in the form of a servant; and He said, Save the Son of Thine handmaid. And
He was saved from death, as ye know, His flesh, which was dead, being raised again. But that ye may see that He is God, and that He was not so raised by the Father as that He was not raised by Himself, ye have it said in the Gospel, that He Himself raised His own flesh ; Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again : and lest we should suspect any other meaning, the Evangelist goes on to say, But this He said concerning the temple of His Body. There fore the Son of the handmaid was saved. And each several
Christian placed in the Body of Christ may say, Save the son of Thine handmaid. Perhaps he cannot say, Give power unto Thy servant: because it was He, the Son, Who received
Yet wherefore saith He not this also ? Was it not Mat. 19, said to servants, Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
Tcot. 6, 3.
twe^ve tribes of Israel ? and the servants say, Know ye not that we shall judge Angels? Each one therefore of the saints receiveth also power, and each several saint is the son of His handmaid. What if he is born of a pagan mother, and has become a Christian ? How can the son of a pagan be the
power.
Sign of Resurrection confounds, now to save, at last to destroy. 209
son of His handmaid: He is indeed the son of a pagan mother Ver. after the flesh, but the son of the Church after the Spirit. -- And save the son of Thine handmaid.
23. Ver. 17. Shew me a sign for good. What sign, but
that of the Resurrection ? The Lord savs: 77m wicked and Mat. 12,
provoking generation seeketh (\fter a sign ; and there shall 39 40 no sign be given it, but the sign qf the Prophet Jonah. For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so the Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth. There
fore in our Head a sign has been shewn already for good ;
each one of us also may say, Shew me a sign for good : be
cause at the last trumpet, at the coming of the Lord, both
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be l Cor.
'
liveth without being ashamed, unless he first be ashamed
and live anew. Now God grants them the approach of a healthy shame, if they despise not the medicine of con
fession : but if they will not now be ashamed, then they shall
be ashamed, when their iniquities shall convince them to their Wisd. 6,
How shall they be ashamed ? When they shall say, These are they whom we had sometimes in derision, and a parable of reproach. We fools counted their life madness : how are they numbered among the children of God ! What hath pride profited us? Then shall they say this: let them say it now, and they say it to their health. For let each one turn humbly to God, and now say, What hath my pride
profited me ? and hear from the Apostle, For what glory Rom. 6, had ye in those things of which ye are now ashamed ? Ye 2I-
see that there is even now a wholesome shame while there
is a place of penitence : but then one which will be late, useless, fruitless. What hath pride profiled us? or what Wisd. 6, good hath the vaunting ofriches brought us? All are passed8' 9- away like a shadow. What ? When thou livedst here, didst
thou not see that all those things were passing away like a ? Wigd. 4, 20. dedi cent ens. LXX. Myfsi.
VOL. IV. P
changed. This will be a sign for good. Shew me a sign for good, that they who bate me may see it, and be ashamed.
In the judgment they shall be ashamed unto their destruc tion, who will not now be ashamed unto their healing. Now therefore let them be ashamed : let them accuse their own ways, let them keep the good way : because none of us
face.
210 This is the land of the dead, we hope for that of the living.
Psalm shadow ? Then thou wouldest leave the shadow, and be in L-x- -- the light ; nor wouldest thou afterwards say, All things are passed away like a shadow, when thou wert about to go into darkness from the shadow. Shew me a sign for good, that
those who hate me may see it, and be ashamed.
24. For Thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Hast holpen me, in struggle ; and comforted me, in sorrow.
For no one seeketh comfort, but he who is in misery. Would
ye not be consoled ? Say that ye are happy, and ye hear, My people, (now ye answer, and I hear a murmur, as of persons
who remember the Scriptures. May God, Who hath written this in your hearts, confirm it in your deeds. Ye see, brethren, that those who say unto you, Ye are happy, seduce
Is. 3,l2. you,) 0 My people, they that call you happy cause you to err, Lat. andaw? j </,s^tfrj (fa way 0j- your feet. So also from the Epistle marg. of the Apostle James : Be afflicted, and mourn : let your Jas. 4,9. laughter be turned to mourning. Ye see what ye have heard
read: when would such things be said unto us in the land of security? This surely is the land of offences, and temptations, and of all evils, that we may groan here, and deserve to re joice there ; here to be troubled, and there to be comforted,
8'9'
Ps. 116, and to say, For Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears,
my feet from falling: I will please the Lord in the land of the living. This is the land of the dead. The land of the dead passcth, the land of the living cometh. In the land of the dead is labour, grief, fear, tribulation, temptation, groan ing, sighing: here are false happy ones, true unhappy, be cause happiness is false, misery is true. But he that owneth himself to be in true misery, will also be in true happiness: and yet now because thou art miserable, hear the Lord saying,
Mart. 6, Blessed are they that mourn. O blessed they that mourn ! Nothing is so akin to misery as mourning: nothing so remote and contrary to misery as blessedness: Thou speakest of those who mourn, and Thou callest them blessed ! Understand, He saith, what I say
:
blessed. Wherefore blessed? In hope. Wherefore mourn
ing? In act. For they mourn in this death, in these tribulations, in their wandering: and because they own them selves to be in this misery, and mourn, they are blessed.
Wherefore do they mourn ? The blessed Cypriau was put to
I call those who mourn
Our present works will have no place in Heaven. ->1 1
sorrow in his passion : now he is comforted with his crown ; Ver. now though comforted, he was sad. For our Lord Jesus Christ still intercedeth for us: all the Martyrs who are with
Him intercede for us. Their intercessions pass not away, except when our mourning is passed away : but when our mourning shall have passed away, we all with one voice, in
one people, in one country, shall receive comfort, thousands of thousands joined with Angels playing upon harps, with choirs of heavenly powers living in one city. Who mourneth there ? Who there sigheth ? Who there toileth ? Who there needeth ? Who dieth there ? Who there sheweth mercy ? Who breaketh bread to the hungry there, where all are satis fied with the bread of righteousness ? No one saith unto thee,
Receive a stranger ; there no one will be a stranger to thee : all live in their own country. No one sailh unto thee, Set at
one thy friends disputing ; in everlasting peace they enjoy the Face of God. No one saith unto thee, Visit the sick ; health and immortality abide for ever. No one saith unto thee, Bury the dead ; all shall be in everlasting life. Works of mercy stop, because misery is found not. And what shall we do there? Shall we perhaps sleep ? If now we fight against ourselves, although we carry about a house of sleep, this flesh of ours, and keep watch with these lights, and this solemn feast gives us a mind to watch ; what wakefulness shall that day give unto us ! Therefore we shall be awake, we shall not sleep. What shall we do ? There will be no works of mercy, because there will be no misery. Perhaps there will be these necessary works which there are hero now, of sowing, plough ing, cooking, grinding, weaving ? None of these, for there will be no want. Thus there will be no works of mercy, because misery is past away : where there is no want nor misery, there
will be neither works of necessity nor of mercy. What will be there? What business shall we have? What action ? Will there be no action, because there is rest ? Shall we sit there,
If our love grow cold, our action will grow cold. How then will that love resting in the face of God, for Whom we now long, for Whom we sigh, how will it inflame us, when we shall have come to Him? He for
Whom while as yet we see Him not, we so sigh, how will He enlighten us, when we shall have come to Him ? How will He p2
and be torpid, and do nothing ?
212 Praise the work of the Blented, satisfying not cloying.
Psalm change us ? What will He make of us ? What then shall we do, mxvi. bremren; Let the Psalm tell us: Blessed are they who dwell in Ps. 84,4. Thy house. Why? They shall praise Thee for ever and ever. This will be our employment, praise of God. Thou lovest and praisest. Thou wilt cease to praise, if thou cease to
EccIub. 24, 21.
for it*6! !
Lat. lBtxyi-
PSALM LXXXVII.
love. But thou wilt not cease to love, because He Whom thou seest is such an One as offends thee not by any weariness : He both satisBes thee, and satisfies thee not. What I say is wonderful. If I say that He satisfies thee, I am afraid lest as though satisfied thou shouldest wish to depart, as from a dinner or from a supper. What then do I say ? doth He not satisfy thee ?
I am afraid again, that if I say, He doth not satisfy thee, thou shouldest seem to be in want : aud shouldest be as it were empty, and there should
be in thee some void which ought to be filled. What then shall I say, except what can be said, but can hardly be thought ? He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not: for I find both
Matt. 6, in Scripture. For while He said, Blessed are Ihe hungry,
oe filled; it is again said of Wisdom, Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again. Nay, but He did not say ' again,' but he said, still: for, " shall thirst again" is as if once having been filled he departed and digested, and returned to drink. So it Those who eat Thee shall still hunger: thus when they eat they hunger: and those who drink Thee, even thus when drinking, thirst. What it, to thirst in drinking? Never to grow weary. If then there shall be that ineffable and eternal sweetness, what doth He now seek of us, brethren, but faith unfeigned, firm hope, pure charity and man may walk in the way which the Lord hath given, may bear troubles, and receive consolations.
see? . 9. A Discourse to the people, perhaps at Carthage, delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm.
The Psalm which has just been sung short, we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its
I.
is
if
1
1
?
is
is,
The Psalm composed out of love for the City of God. 213
thoughts. The whole has been read, and you see in how brief Ver. a period it has been exhausted. The consideration of this -- --- -- with you, beloved, so far as God deigns, to grant, has just
been proposed to me by our blessed father ? here present : and
the proposal from its suddenness might alarm me, did not his prayer who proposed it at once support me. Listen, therefore, beloved. The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a
city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians:
whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal : whither we
are tending: through whose approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle them, the Sove
reign of the city made Himself a path for us to reach it. se fecit Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within that city, a repose of which it is promised, that the
eye of man hath never seen such, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into his heart to conceive; let us chant the song of a longing heart : for he who truly longs, thus sings within his
soul, though his tongue be silent: he who does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God. See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a feeling were they sung by those ! A feeling that the love of that city created in them : that love the Spirit of God inspired; the love of God, he saith, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which in yiven unto ui. Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is
said of that city.
2. Ver. 1, 2. Her foundations are upon the holy hills.
The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city : it begins thus, and says, Her foundations are upon the holy hills. Whose ? There can be no doubt, that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, Her foundations are upon the holy hills ; as if he had already said something concerning it. And how could he have said nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been silent? For how could her foundations have >> Perhaps Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage. Ben.
214 Apostles and Prophets both Citizens and Foundations.
Psalm been written, of which nothing had been said before ? But, lxxxVI1, as I said, after long and silent travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out into the
ears of men thus : Herfoundations are upon the holy hills. And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city he spoke, he adds, the Lord loveth the gates of Sion. Behold then, a city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, above all the dwellings of Jacob. But what doth this mean, her foundations on the holy hills ? What are the holy hills upon which this city is built ? Another citizen tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paal : of this was the Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen : and they spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense ; that they are themselves the hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth. Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may not seem to guess.
202 This world a kind of hell, compared with Heaven.
P8ai,m which this world cannot be, until iniquity pass away : let not v'' that rejoicing make us secure, but let our heart be so made glad, as to fear the name of the Lord, lest it be made glad
on one side, be stricken on another. Expect not security in
if ever we wish for it here, it will be the birdlime ' al. ' of of the body ', not the safety of the man. J^et my heart be made
heart. '
journeying:
S(> ^tat moyfear Thy name.
/ will in my whole heart, and
unto Thee, O Lord my God, I will glorify Thy name for ever: for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell. Do not be angry, brethren,
if I do not explain what 1 hare said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to speak : nothing of myself. Hell? I have not yet seen, nor have you: and there will be perhaps another way for us, and not through hell. These things are uncertain. But because Scripture, which cannot be gainsaid, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell, we understand that there are as it were two hells, an upper one and a lower one : for how can there be a lower hell, unless because there is also an upper? The one would not be called lower, except by comparison with that upper part. It appears then, my brethren, that there is some heavenly abode of Angels : there is there a life of ineffable joys, there immortality and incorruption, there all things abiding according to the gift and grace of God. That part of the creation is above. If then that is above, but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood, where is corruptible- ness, where is nativity and mortality, departure and suc cession, changeableness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires, horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable ex
I suppose that all this part cannot be compared with that heaven of which I was just now speaking; if then this part cannot be compared with that, the one is above, the other below. And whither do we go after death, unless there is a depth deeper than this depth ? in which we are in the
17. Ver. 12, 13.
confess
istence ;
11t- 'a
thi>>hell. ' ^esn an(* m ln's m? rtal state ? For the body is dead, saith Eom. 8, the Apostle, because ofsin. Therefore even here are the
* Internum : used as oar word place of departed spirits,
"hell" in the Apostles' Creed, for the b infernum inferios hoc inferno.
In Hell, there is a ' nethermost hell. '
203
dead ; that thou mayest not wonder because it is called hell,
if it abounds with the dead. For he saith not, the body is about to die : but, the body is dead. Even now surely our
body hath life : and yet compared with that body which is to
be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man is found to be dead, although still having life. But again, from this hell,
that is from this part of hell, there is another lower, whither
the dead go : from whence God would rescue our souls, even sending thither His own Son. For it was on account of these two hells, my brethren, that the Son of God was sent,
on all sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by being
born, to that by dying. Therefore it is His voice in that Psalm, not according to any man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining, when he saith, For Thou wilt not leave my soul ps. i6, in hell. Therefore it is here also either His voice, Thou hast10' delivered my soul from the nethermost hell : or our voice by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself : for on this account He came even unto hell, that we might not remain in bell.
18. I will mention another opinion also. For perhaps even
in hell itself there is some lower part where are thrust the ungodly who have sinned most'. For whether in hell there 'So St. were not some places where Abraham was, we cannot define fTMjob* sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord come to hell that He 1. xii. might rescue from thence the souls of all the saints who had^' gone before*, and yet Abraham was there in repose. And*st.
a certain rich man when he was in torments in hell, when Grej*? JJ
seen him by lifting up his eyes, unless the one was above, the Lukti6 other below. And what did Abraham answer unto him, 22. when he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he mayib 24-- d/ip the tip of his finger and drop it upon my tongue, for 26'
am tormented in this ? My son, he said, remember flame
that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented. And besides this, he said, between us and you there is a great gulffixed, so that neither can we go to you, nor can any one come from thence to us. Therefore between these two hells, perhaps, in one of
which the souls of the just have gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly are tormented, one waiting and praying
Ver. 12' 13'
on Joh, he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes. He could not have I. xiii. ? .
204 ' Deliverance from Heir may be from going there.
Psalm here, placed here in the body of Christ, and praying in the 'voice of Christ, said that God had delivered his soul from the nethermost hell, because He delivered him from such sins as might have been the means of drawing him down to
1 quia
the torments of the nethermost hell. As if a physician were to see an illness threatening thee perhaps from some labo rious work, and were to say, Spare thyself, treat thyself thus, rest, use this food ; for if thou doest it not thou wilt be sick ;
and thou, if thou doest so and art made well, sayest rightly to the physician, Thou hast set me free from sickness : not sickness in which thou wast, but in which thou wast likely to be. Some one having a troublesome cause was to be sent
to prison : another comes and defends him ; what does he say when he thanks him ? Thou hast delivered ray soul out of prison. A debtor was to be hanged upc: his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being hanged up. They were not in all these evils : but because they were in such due course towards them that unless aid had been brought, they would have been in them, they rightly say that they are
meritis
ageban- delivered from thence, whither they were not suffered by
their deliverers to be taken. Therefore, brethren, whether it be this or that, consider me to be herein an inquirer into the word of God, not a rash assertor. And thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.
19. Ver. 14. O God, the transgressors of the law have arisen up against me. Whom calleth he transgressors of of the law ? Not the Pagans, who have not received the law : for no one transgresseth that which he hath not received ;
Rom. 4, the Apostle saith clearly, For where there is no law, there is no prevarication. Transgressors of the law he calls ' pre
If we take this word from our Lord Himself, the transgressors of the law were the Jews. The transgressors of the law rose up against Me: they did not keep the law, and accused Christ as if He transgressed the law. The transgressors of the law
varicators. ' Whom then do we understand, brethren ?
rose up against Me. And we know what the Lord suffered.
c Suspendendus. The word is used dix, when Ingentius, the forger, was to of the preparation for torture, as in the be threatened with torture, " Procon- gesta Proconsularia in i lie case of Felix sul dixit, Suspendatur. ''
of Aptungis, Opp. S. Aug. t. ix. Appen-
Bad Christians the ' Transgressors? who trouble the Church. 205
Thinkest thou His Body suffers no such thing now? How Ver. can this be ? If they called the Master of the house Beel- zebub, how much more those of his household? The disciple 24. 26. ' is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. The
body also suffereth transgressors of the law, and they rise up against the Body of Christ. Who are the transgressors of
the law ? Do the Jews perchance dare to rise up against Christ ? No : for it is not they that cause us much trouble.
For they have not yet believed : they have not yet owned
their salvation. Against the Body of Christ bad Christians rise
up, from whom the Body of Christ daily suffereth trouble.
All schisms, all heresies, all within who live wickedly and engraft their own character on those who live well, and draw
them over to their own side, and with evil communications corrupt good manners ; these persons transgressing the law 1 Cor. rose up against Me. Let every pious soul speak, let every 16' 33' Christian soul speak. That one which suffers not this, let
it not speak. But if it is a Christian soul, it knows that it
suffers evils : if it owns in itself its own sufferings, let it own
herein its own voice; but if it is without suffering, let if'Oxf. also be without the voice; but that it may not be without. it'must suffering, let it walk along the narrow way, and begin to nve^j"'7 ' godly in Christ: it roust of necessity suffer this persecution. 14.
For all, saith the Apostle, who will live godly in Christ, suffer persecution. .
2 Tim. 3, 12-
O God, the transgressors of the law have risen up against
Me, and the synagogue of the pouerful have sought after
My soul. The synagogue of the powerful is the congrega
tion of the proud. The synagogue of the powerful rose
up against the Head, that our Lord Jesus Christ,
crying and saying with one mouth, Crucify Him, crucify
Him: of whom said, The sons of men, their teeth John19, are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. pB- 67, They did not strike, but cried by crying they struck, by *' crying they crucified Him. The will of those who cried
was fulfilled, when the Lord was crucified: And the syna
gogue the powerful sought after my soul. And they did
not place Thee before their eyes. How did they not place
Him before them They did not know Him God. They should have spared him as Man what they saw, according
:
?
it is
of
:
is,
206 They that refuse Christ as Man are not to see Him as God.
Psilm to this they should have walked. Suppose that He was not IJ"vI- God, He was man : was He therefore to be slain ? Spare
Him a man, and own Him God.
20. Ver. 15. And Thou, Lord God, art One Who hast
compassion and merciful, longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true. Wherefore longsuffering and very pitiful, and One Who hast compassion ? Because hanging on the Cross He
Luke23,said : Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. M' Whom prayeth He to ? for whom doth He pray ? Who prayeth? Where prayeth He? The Son prays to the Father,
crucified for the ungodly, in the midst of very insults, not of words but of death inflicted, hanging on the Cross ; as if for this He had His hands stretched out, that thus He might pray
Ps. for them, that His ' prayer might be directed like incense in the sight of the Father, and the lifting up of His hands like an evening sacrifice. Longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true.
21. Ver. 16. If therefore Thou art true, Look upon me, and have mercy upon me: give power unto Thy servant. Because Thou art true, give power unto Thy servant. Let the time of patience pass away, the time of judgment come. How,
John 6, give power unto Thy servant ? The Father judgeth no man,
~2'
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He rising again will come even to earth Himself to judge : He will appear terrible Who appeared despicable. He will shew His power, Who shewed His patience; on the Cross was patience; in the judgment will be power. For He will appear as Man
Acts l, judging, but in glory : because ' as ye saw Him go,' said the
Angels, ' so He will come. ' His very form shall come to
judgment; therefore the ungodly also shall see Him: for
Matt. 6,they shall not see the form of God. For blessed are the
Mat. 26,Pure hi heart, for they shall see God. Appearing in the
41 ?
Is. 26, Lxx!
Phil. 2, 6'
form of Man, He will say, Go into everlasting fire; that it may be fulfilled which Isaiah said, Let the ungodly man be token ciray, that he may not see the glory of the Lord. Let him be taken away, that he may not see the form of God. The form of Man then they shall see. Who when He was in the form of God, equal with God: this the ungodly shall not
John l, see. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God: this the ungodly shall
,'
Vision of the Godhead of the Son, is of the Father also. 207
not see. For if the Word is God, and, blessed are the pure Ver. in heart, for they shall see God; but the ungodly are impure ------ in heart: beyond doubt they shall not see God. And wherefore is Tliey shall look on Him Whom they pierced, zech. except because appears that they will see the form of*? 'h^ Man, that they may be judged, the form of God none will 37. see, but those who shall be separated to the right hand? For
when they are separated on the right hand, this shall be
said unto them: Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which prepared for you, from the beginning the
world. But what to the ungodly on the left Go into everlasting fire, which My Father hath prepared for the
devil and his angels. But when the judgment ended, how
did He finish? So the wicked shall go into everlasting Mat. 26, burning; but the righteous into life eternal. Then from^g? 4l' the sight of the form of Man those shall go on to the sight of
the form of God. For this, He saith, eternal life, that Johni7, they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ3'
Whom Thou hast sent: thou understandest, Himself also
the only true God because the Father and the Son are One
True God so that the sense, that they may know Thee,
and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent, One True God. For
they shall not go on to the sight of the Father without therein seeing the Sou also. If the Son also were not in the
vision of His Father, the Son Himself would not say unto
His disciples, that the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son. The disciples say to Him Shew us the JohnM, Father, and sufficeth us. He saith unto them, Have been
so long time with you, and yet have ye not known Me, Philip? he who hath seen Me hath seen the Father. You see that in the vision of the Father there also the vision of the Son and in the vision of the Son there also the vision of the Father. Therefore He adds consequence, and says
Know ye not that am in the Father, and the Father in Me? JohnU, that is, both in Me seen the Father seen, and in the Father 10- seen the Son too seen. The vision of the Father and the
Son cannot be separated where nature and substance not separated, there vision cannot be separated. For that ye may know that the heart ought to be made ready for that place, to see the Divinity of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in
:
is
a
is I ;
of
:
it is I
is
it, it
is is
is
9
:
is
?
is
:
: is
'
208 How our Lord speaks as ' raised up,' ' receiving power] fyc.
Psalm Which though not seen we believe, and by believing cleanse the heart that there may be able to be sight : the Lord
JohnH, Himself saith in another place, He that hath My commands and keepeth them, he it is that loveth MeI: and he that loveth
will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him. Did they not see Him, w ith whom He was talking ? They both saw Him, and did not
see Him ? they saw something, they believed something : they saw Man, they believed in God. But in the Judgment they shall see the same Lord Jesns Christ as Man, together with the wicked: after the Judgment, they shall see God, apart from the wicked. Give power unto Thy servant.
22. And save the Snn of Thine handmaid. The Lord is the Son of the handmaid. Of what handmaid? Her who when He was announced as about to be born of her, answered
Luke 1, and said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me
John 9,
Me shall be loved by My Father : and
38 Phil. 2, 6-
according to Thy word.
He saved the Son of His handmaid, and His own Son: His own Son, in the Form of God; the Son of His handmaid in the form of a servant. Of the hand maid of God, therefore, the Lord was born in the form of a servant; and He said, Save the Son of Thine handmaid. And
He was saved from death, as ye know, His flesh, which was dead, being raised again. But that ye may see that He is God, and that He was not so raised by the Father as that He was not raised by Himself, ye have it said in the Gospel, that He Himself raised His own flesh ; Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again : and lest we should suspect any other meaning, the Evangelist goes on to say, But this He said concerning the temple of His Body. There fore the Son of the handmaid was saved. And each several
Christian placed in the Body of Christ may say, Save the son of Thine handmaid. Perhaps he cannot say, Give power unto Thy servant: because it was He, the Son, Who received
Yet wherefore saith He not this also ? Was it not Mat. 19, said to servants, Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
Tcot. 6, 3.
twe^ve tribes of Israel ? and the servants say, Know ye not that we shall judge Angels? Each one therefore of the saints receiveth also power, and each several saint is the son of His handmaid. What if he is born of a pagan mother, and has become a Christian ? How can the son of a pagan be the
power.
Sign of Resurrection confounds, now to save, at last to destroy. 209
son of His handmaid: He is indeed the son of a pagan mother Ver. after the flesh, but the son of the Church after the Spirit. -- And save the son of Thine handmaid.
23. Ver. 17. Shew me a sign for good. What sign, but
that of the Resurrection ? The Lord savs: 77m wicked and Mat. 12,
provoking generation seeketh (\fter a sign ; and there shall 39 40 no sign be given it, but the sign qf the Prophet Jonah. For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so the Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth. There
fore in our Head a sign has been shewn already for good ;
each one of us also may say, Shew me a sign for good : be
cause at the last trumpet, at the coming of the Lord, both
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be l Cor.
'
liveth without being ashamed, unless he first be ashamed
and live anew. Now God grants them the approach of a healthy shame, if they despise not the medicine of con
fession : but if they will not now be ashamed, then they shall
be ashamed, when their iniquities shall convince them to their Wisd. 6,
How shall they be ashamed ? When they shall say, These are they whom we had sometimes in derision, and a parable of reproach. We fools counted their life madness : how are they numbered among the children of God ! What hath pride profited us? Then shall they say this: let them say it now, and they say it to their health. For let each one turn humbly to God, and now say, What hath my pride
profited me ? and hear from the Apostle, For what glory Rom. 6, had ye in those things of which ye are now ashamed ? Ye 2I-
see that there is even now a wholesome shame while there
is a place of penitence : but then one which will be late, useless, fruitless. What hath pride profiled us? or what Wisd. 6, good hath the vaunting ofriches brought us? All are passed8' 9- away like a shadow. What ? When thou livedst here, didst
thou not see that all those things were passing away like a ? Wigd. 4, 20. dedi cent ens. LXX. Myfsi.
VOL. IV. P
changed. This will be a sign for good. Shew me a sign for good, that they who bate me may see it, and be ashamed.
In the judgment they shall be ashamed unto their destruc tion, who will not now be ashamed unto their healing. Now therefore let them be ashamed : let them accuse their own ways, let them keep the good way : because none of us
face.
210 This is the land of the dead, we hope for that of the living.
Psalm shadow ? Then thou wouldest leave the shadow, and be in L-x- -- the light ; nor wouldest thou afterwards say, All things are passed away like a shadow, when thou wert about to go into darkness from the shadow. Shew me a sign for good, that
those who hate me may see it, and be ashamed.
24. For Thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Hast holpen me, in struggle ; and comforted me, in sorrow.
For no one seeketh comfort, but he who is in misery. Would
ye not be consoled ? Say that ye are happy, and ye hear, My people, (now ye answer, and I hear a murmur, as of persons
who remember the Scriptures. May God, Who hath written this in your hearts, confirm it in your deeds. Ye see, brethren, that those who say unto you, Ye are happy, seduce
Is. 3,l2. you,) 0 My people, they that call you happy cause you to err, Lat. andaw? j </,s^tfrj (fa way 0j- your feet. So also from the Epistle marg. of the Apostle James : Be afflicted, and mourn : let your Jas. 4,9. laughter be turned to mourning. Ye see what ye have heard
read: when would such things be said unto us in the land of security? This surely is the land of offences, and temptations, and of all evils, that we may groan here, and deserve to re joice there ; here to be troubled, and there to be comforted,
8'9'
Ps. 116, and to say, For Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears,
my feet from falling: I will please the Lord in the land of the living. This is the land of the dead. The land of the dead passcth, the land of the living cometh. In the land of the dead is labour, grief, fear, tribulation, temptation, groan ing, sighing: here are false happy ones, true unhappy, be cause happiness is false, misery is true. But he that owneth himself to be in true misery, will also be in true happiness: and yet now because thou art miserable, hear the Lord saying,
Mart. 6, Blessed are they that mourn. O blessed they that mourn ! Nothing is so akin to misery as mourning: nothing so remote and contrary to misery as blessedness: Thou speakest of those who mourn, and Thou callest them blessed ! Understand, He saith, what I say
:
blessed. Wherefore blessed? In hope. Wherefore mourn
ing? In act. For they mourn in this death, in these tribulations, in their wandering: and because they own them selves to be in this misery, and mourn, they are blessed.
Wherefore do they mourn ? The blessed Cypriau was put to
I call those who mourn
Our present works will have no place in Heaven. ->1 1
sorrow in his passion : now he is comforted with his crown ; Ver. now though comforted, he was sad. For our Lord Jesus Christ still intercedeth for us: all the Martyrs who are with
Him intercede for us. Their intercessions pass not away, except when our mourning is passed away : but when our mourning shall have passed away, we all with one voice, in
one people, in one country, shall receive comfort, thousands of thousands joined with Angels playing upon harps, with choirs of heavenly powers living in one city. Who mourneth there ? Who there sigheth ? Who there toileth ? Who there needeth ? Who dieth there ? Who there sheweth mercy ? Who breaketh bread to the hungry there, where all are satis fied with the bread of righteousness ? No one saith unto thee,
Receive a stranger ; there no one will be a stranger to thee : all live in their own country. No one sailh unto thee, Set at
one thy friends disputing ; in everlasting peace they enjoy the Face of God. No one saith unto thee, Visit the sick ; health and immortality abide for ever. No one saith unto thee, Bury the dead ; all shall be in everlasting life. Works of mercy stop, because misery is found not. And what shall we do there? Shall we perhaps sleep ? If now we fight against ourselves, although we carry about a house of sleep, this flesh of ours, and keep watch with these lights, and this solemn feast gives us a mind to watch ; what wakefulness shall that day give unto us ! Therefore we shall be awake, we shall not sleep. What shall we do ? There will be no works of mercy, because there will be no misery. Perhaps there will be these necessary works which there are hero now, of sowing, plough ing, cooking, grinding, weaving ? None of these, for there will be no want. Thus there will be no works of mercy, because misery is past away : where there is no want nor misery, there
will be neither works of necessity nor of mercy. What will be there? What business shall we have? What action ? Will there be no action, because there is rest ? Shall we sit there,
If our love grow cold, our action will grow cold. How then will that love resting in the face of God, for Whom we now long, for Whom we sigh, how will it inflame us, when we shall have come to Him? He for
Whom while as yet we see Him not, we so sigh, how will He enlighten us, when we shall have come to Him ? How will He p2
and be torpid, and do nothing ?
212 Praise the work of the Blented, satisfying not cloying.
Psalm change us ? What will He make of us ? What then shall we do, mxvi. bremren; Let the Psalm tell us: Blessed are they who dwell in Ps. 84,4. Thy house. Why? They shall praise Thee for ever and ever. This will be our employment, praise of God. Thou lovest and praisest. Thou wilt cease to praise, if thou cease to
EccIub. 24, 21.
for it*6! !
Lat. lBtxyi-
PSALM LXXXVII.
love. But thou wilt not cease to love, because He Whom thou seest is such an One as offends thee not by any weariness : He both satisBes thee, and satisfies thee not. What I say is wonderful. If I say that He satisfies thee, I am afraid lest as though satisfied thou shouldest wish to depart, as from a dinner or from a supper. What then do I say ? doth He not satisfy thee ?
I am afraid again, that if I say, He doth not satisfy thee, thou shouldest seem to be in want : aud shouldest be as it were empty, and there should
be in thee some void which ought to be filled. What then shall I say, except what can be said, but can hardly be thought ? He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not: for I find both
Matt. 6, in Scripture. For while He said, Blessed are Ihe hungry,
oe filled; it is again said of Wisdom, Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again. Nay, but He did not say ' again,' but he said, still: for, " shall thirst again" is as if once having been filled he departed and digested, and returned to drink. So it Those who eat Thee shall still hunger: thus when they eat they hunger: and those who drink Thee, even thus when drinking, thirst. What it, to thirst in drinking? Never to grow weary. If then there shall be that ineffable and eternal sweetness, what doth He now seek of us, brethren, but faith unfeigned, firm hope, pure charity and man may walk in the way which the Lord hath given, may bear troubles, and receive consolations.
see? . 9. A Discourse to the people, perhaps at Carthage, delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm.
The Psalm which has just been sung short, we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its
I.
is
if
1
1
?
is
is,
The Psalm composed out of love for the City of God. 213
thoughts. The whole has been read, and you see in how brief Ver. a period it has been exhausted. The consideration of this -- --- -- with you, beloved, so far as God deigns, to grant, has just
been proposed to me by our blessed father ? here present : and
the proposal from its suddenness might alarm me, did not his prayer who proposed it at once support me. Listen, therefore, beloved. The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a
city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians:
whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal : whither we
are tending: through whose approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle them, the Sove
reign of the city made Himself a path for us to reach it. se fecit Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within that city, a repose of which it is promised, that the
eye of man hath never seen such, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into his heart to conceive; let us chant the song of a longing heart : for he who truly longs, thus sings within his
soul, though his tongue be silent: he who does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God. See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a feeling were they sung by those ! A feeling that the love of that city created in them : that love the Spirit of God inspired; the love of God, he saith, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which in yiven unto ui. Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is
said of that city.
2. Ver. 1, 2. Her foundations are upon the holy hills.
The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city : it begins thus, and says, Her foundations are upon the holy hills. Whose ? There can be no doubt, that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, Her foundations are upon the holy hills ; as if he had already said something concerning it. And how could he have said nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been silent? For how could her foundations have >> Perhaps Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage. Ben.
214 Apostles and Prophets both Citizens and Foundations.
Psalm been written, of which nothing had been said before ? But, lxxxVI1, as I said, after long and silent travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out into the
ears of men thus : Herfoundations are upon the holy hills. And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city he spoke, he adds, the Lord loveth the gates of Sion. Behold then, a city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, above all the dwellings of Jacob. But what doth this mean, her foundations on the holy hills ? What are the holy hills upon which this city is built ? Another citizen tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paal : of this was the Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen : and they spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense ; that they are themselves the hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth. Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may not seem to guess.
